Hurricanes From Hell

Sweeping in from the sea, these violent weather systems can travel thousands of miles, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake. Vast areas of the landscape are swamped with tidal surges of up to 20 feet high, deluged with torrential rain, and battered by ferocious winds, often exceeding 100 miles an hour. Buildings are flattened and trees uprooted, while boats, cars and other vehicles are thrown around like a child's toys. Some of the world's worst hurricanes have occurred in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Given innocent-sounding names such as Hugo, Andrew or Mitch, they have wreaked chaos on an awesome scale, wiped out whole towns and villages, killed thousands of people and left many more homeless and destitute. But one hurricane in particular stands out: Hurricane Katrina. In August 2005, Katrina overwhelmed New Orleans in America's Deep South, killing nearly 2000 people. It would be marked not only as one of the deadliest hurricanes on record.